February 2014
I remember exactly where I was when I first saw The Office. In the office. Twelve years ago this spring, an advance VHS – remember those? – arrived. I'd like to boast that I immediately spotted a classic. What I actually spotted was a quite funny workplace-based sitcom starring the politically incorrect bloke from Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show.
Mark Thomas has been winding people up for three decades. He is currently appearing at the Leicester Square Theatre with his new show, 100 Acts of Minor Dissent, which charts his ongoing project of a century of protests, from busking illegally in Camden to putting stickers with slogans where they shouldn't be put. I interviewed him in a coffee shop near Clapham South station close to where he lives. This is very much Thomas's manor.
I last interviewed Josh Widdicombe in late 2011, when he was first starting to be tipped for stardom. You can read that interview here.
Every delicious box of luxury chocolates has to have a dud in it that is left in the bottom layer after all the favourites have been snapped up. In the case of the brilliantly tasty Inside No. 9 it is this week's instalment, The Last Gasp.
The comedy gods have smiled upon us. Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle is back again for a third series. Of course there is no god, comedy or otherwise, so let's just celebrate the return to television of contemporary stand up's smartest sage. In fact there are two smart sages for the price of one here. Chris Morris also returns to the screen in this series, replacing Armando Iannucci as the "hostile interrogator" who intermittently questions Lee in a darkened room during the programme.
Some exciting big gigs this week. Tonight at the Palace Theatre the Last Leg trio of Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker appear in aid of the Centrepoint homelessness charity. More details here.
The team behind hit Channel 4 chat show The Last Leg may play some live dates later this year. Josh Widdicombe has told me that there has been talk of them going on the road. Not necessarily to play theatres at this stage but maybe trying out the freewheeling, playful mix of sketches, songs and talk "in a festival tent."
When you watch a comedy competition for newish talent it is often easy to decide who is the best. It is more difficult to work out what some acts will be doing in, say, a decade. Who could have predicted that previous Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year winner Johnny Vegas would be a mainstream star when he first pitched up as an unpredictable mix of failed Butlins redcoat, care in the community case and whirling dervish.
Musical comedian Kate Lucas has won this year's hotly contested Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year competition. The final was held this evening (Saturday) at the Y Theatre as part of Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival. Lucas wins £1000 and a bottle of champagane and, according to host Rob Rouse, the Sainsburys bag it came in. Phil Jerrod was second and Mark Silcox was third.
Anybody interested in recent comedy history should have been at I Say with Alexei Sayle, the inaugural "Comedy Conversation" at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival earlier this week. It was an opportunity to see someone who wasn't just there at the start of modern comedy, but someone who can genuinely claim to have actually started it all off.
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